Moore: EA undecided on DRM
COO says publisher yet to have internal meetings on used games systems, but that he's pro pre-owned
Electronic Arts' chief operating officer Peter Moore has revealed that the company is yet to have the internal discussions that will decide its approach to next-gen DRM, and that it now considers the online pass system "a mistake."
"Sony have announced what they are going to do which is, y'know, business as usual, and then Microsoft are looking at allowing a publisher to opt-in, should they choose to do so. But if we opt in, do [Microsoft] charge a fee, and if so, how much?"
"We have not internally even begun to sit down and answer those questions," he told Polygon.
Game sharing has become the hot topic of the conference, thanks to Microsoft's attempts to clarify its position last week and Sony's cheeky sucker punch, which revealed it will have no such restrictions. Sony has since admitted it can't stop publishers adding their own measures, like the old online passes for multiplayer, but without the Xbox One's mandatory online checking in options are limited.
During the interview Moore also stated that he liked the used games market, and would never fight to see it shut down.
"EA has never had a conversation, and I have been present at all of them, with all of the manufacturers, saying you must put a system in place that allows us to take a piece of the action or even stop it. Absolutely incorrect."
"We will figure out what we need to do. I'm not trying to back-pedal but this thing just happened and we need to reconvene and hear what people think and talk to our retail partners and our first party partners. We had no idea what Sony was going to announce. We'll reconvene next week and figure it all out."
More also admitted he considered the online pass system, which EA began removing from games in May, a "mistake."
"Not saying, you know, it was Austin Powers type meeting of Doctor Evils saying [places pinkie finger on eyetooth, Dr. Evil-style] 'we know we can get it back down the road'. No. That was not the meeting I was in. Online Pass was more trouble to the consumer than it was worth."